Prolonging the life of my dishwasher, washer & dryer

Hey everyone,

I have a question that I hope is appropriate for this forum.

About 3&1/2 years ago I bought all new appliances, including an energy star water sense dishwasher and an energy star front loading washing machine. I talked to a guy who repairs a lot of appliances and he told me that when you have these water saving appliances you need to be careful not to use too much soap, especially if you have a water softener (and I do). When I heard this, I switched over to the powder detergents to clean instead of the liquids and I started using about half as much.

Does anyone have an opinion on which type of cleaning detergent to use for the best lifetime of the appliance?

I should also mention that I buy those dishwasher and washing machine cleaners that you run through a hot water cycle to clean up the gunk that gets stuck in there. I don't know if it helping or not, but I figured it can't hurt.

Thanks for the feedback.

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Makes no since to me to use that little soap.
Just use the recommend amount.
There's anti foaming agents in the soap.
Take a clear empty glass and add some of your powered detergent and stir it up with a spoon.
Let it settle out and see what's left sitting on the bottom of the glass. That's all inert fillers that are doing nothing but wearing out the parts inside the appliance.
Look right on the box of soap and see the percentage of inert fillers.

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if you have a water softener you most certainly will need to cut back on the detergent. The softer the water the more effective the soap is at cleaning. If you continue to use the normal amount it will build up inside of everything it will also over suds. Over sudsing can be a real problem especially in front load washers. Whenever I tear down a washer I can easily tell who uses too much detergent, its a waste of money and hard on your machines. To clean your washer and dishwasher go to the grocery store and get yourself a product called lemishine and use it according to directions, great stuff.

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